The East Union girls basketball team made it to NorCals for the second time Tuesday night, but things did not end well for the No. 5 Lancers in the California Interscholastic Federation NorCal Division III opener at Dalben Center.

Eleventh-seeded Central started out on a 10-2 run and never looked back on the way to a 70-52 win.

“When you get behind the eight ball early at this level it’s tough,” East Union coach Jim Agostini said. “Especially with a quality team like Central.

“It is great to get to NorCals. Every year with every team you try to get as far as you can. At the high school level now you win your league and you go into sections. And from the section if you move on it’s just a great challenge to try to compete and see where you are at.”  

Trailing 21-10 at the end of the first quarter which started with five Lancers turnovers in less than four minutes, East Union (23-5) battled back to within 27-23 halfway through the second period. But being a Division I school in a Division I league, the Grizzlies (22-8) of Fresno were battle-tested and ended the first half on a 10-4 run and was never threatened again.

The Grizzlies pressed from the opening tip until the final two minutes of the game and the Lancers could not find an answer for the pressure, turning the ball over 21 times.

“We like to get up,” Central coach Paul Kariuki said. “We have a good stock of athletes so we want to get up and use our athleticism as much as possible. It’s just about getting disciplined and getting girls to make the right reads with the right rotations consistently.”

One reason for the Grizzlies’ domination was Talia Maxwell. The 6-foot junior posted a double-double with 28 points and 16 rebounds along with four steals and three blocks. In the third quarter alone, she had eight points on four successful put-backs and a pair of free throws off of a fifth put-back.  

“She is tough,” Kariuki said of Maxwell. “She has been great all year long. She carries our whole team — she carries me, too. It’s wonderful to have a girl like that who works hard on both ends of the floor, and she can put the ball in the basket. She’s special.”

Agostini was not surprised by Maxwell’s effort.

“You tip your hat to great players,” Agostini said of Maxwell. “I watched five games of this girl and what she was doing on my screen for five games and it played itself out again tonight. She’s a good basketball player. She plays the game at a high level.”

East Union’s Taylor Snaer (five rebounds) led all scorers with 30 points.

“We gave our all,” Snaer said. “We just didn’t come out with the win.

“We played our hardest, but I guess they played harder.”

Lani and Ala Tu’uga flirted with double-doubles for the Lancers. Lani scored nine points with 10 steals and three assists, while Ala chipped in eight points with 10 rebounds and two steals.

Lauren Pablo was a four-year varsity player for East Union.

“It’s been a great ride,” Pablo said. “I’m really proud of my team throughout the years because it has basically been the same team and I have grown up with all these girls.

“Our bond has gotten stronger throughout the years and it has been a great four years.”